Xbox Controller Soldering Diagram Options

[NyCShadow]

Hello,

I was wondering if someone could help me, my controller mic port shows that there is a mic always plugged into it. Is there a way to solder the little mic port piece off so that I can still use my wireless headset? I dont know where I need to solder and don't want to mess up my controller. Is there some type of diagram someoen can provide to show what to solder off to be able to remove the mic port without messing up my control, any help is appreciated. If this is the wrong place to post this, I apologize in advance.

[RDC]

You can leave the Headset port on the controller and just solder a jumper wire in there to do that. If you want to remove it make sure all 8 solder joints are done before pulling on the thing, but there's no point in removing it unless you're wanting to replace it.

The controller shown here is a Wired CL version, so it's probably not going to look exactly like your board there, but all of the Headset pins are in the same place on every version of controller.



Just jumper the 2 spots together shown and that will 'tell' the controller that no headset is plugged in. This was done on a Wireless CG2 with the Headset port removed, but again you can leave the port intact for this if you want.




If you still have a problem with it showing a Headset plugged in after doing that, then you have a severed trace or missing component somewhere, or some other issue with the controller that I'd have to see before knowing what else to try out.

[NyCShadow]

I would like to replace the small mic port with another one, so I'm assuming I just desolder the 8 joints I numbered below, once I do that I just replace it with a new mic port from another controller? Also in the second photo if I completely want to have it "tell" a mic is not plugged in and use my wireless mic, I just use that method? What kind of wire is that I need to solder into the "5 and 6" joints. Just a normal copper or "silver" wire?

[RDC]

Correct, and correct.

You can use just about any kind of wire really, in the pic there is 30awg Kynar wire, but pretty much anything will do.

[NyCShadow]

Thanks RDC I appreciate your time to help, I'll let you know how it goes tonight.

[NyCShadow]

Hey just one more question, can I take the mic port off any other controller or does it have to be the exact same one? Example : a wired controller is the broken one but I use the mic port off a wireless controller or a different brand even.

[NyCShadow]

ok so my attempt to desolder a mic port and solder a new one failed. I first tried to desolder a mic port from a controller but it would not budge and it was very hard to take out, i felt like i was almost burning up the board. I think the soldering iron tip I have is too bug so that is why it wouldnt desolder properly down into the button of the pin. Here is the soldering iron I used, any suggestions on what kind of soldering iron to use to properly desolder the mic port? http://www.amazon.com/Weller-WPS18MP-High-...+Soldering+Iron

This post has been edited by NyCShadow: Aug 1 2012, 07:25 AM

[RDC]

All of the Headset ports are the same between the different controllers, so any of them can be used.

I've never used that thing, but any 18W iron that 'claims' to perform like a 60W one is just blowing smoke, not melting solder like it needs to be. You also can't desolder with just a soldering iron, you need something to remove the solder after it's been melted, desoldering braid (solder wick) or a desoldering pump.

Any decent 15W-20W iron and a pump or wick should be all you'd need. You might want to try adding a little fresh solder on the joint to get things going, since the controller is made using Lead Free solder which takes a little more heat to melt, so some fresh solder or flux can get things going sometimes.

[NyCShadow]

Ah that makes sense as to why i was having a hard time removing the part, I basically kept burning the solder into the board, now i know why it did not budge when I did all 8 points, its cause the soldering iron would just melt the solder and dry back up. I'm gonna go buy a desolder pump at radio shack later.

[NyCShadow]

alright so the desolder worked very well, I was able to remove the mic port off one controller successfully and put it on the other controller which had the broken one. I soldered everything back and go to plug it in and same thing, it shows a mic plugged in when nothing is plugged into the mic port. I went ahead and did the "5 and 6" solder with a wire and that did not work. I noticed afterwards that the "metal ring" thats on the board are missing from some of the joints, this i'm assuming is what caused it to not work at all even after successfully putting in a new mic port. If anything I would like to have my mic work when something is actually plugged in, but that doesnt work. Any suggestions on how to alleviate this issue or am I out of luck cause of the missing "metal rings".

[RDC]

Post a (good) pic of the damage, as there's no way to recommend any kind of fix without seeing what is broken.

[NyCShadow]

Here are the pics of the board, the first pic is with the solder still on the joints, the second pic has the soldder removed. Notice how some of the joints (red arrows) there are missing "metal rings" on them, I'm assuming this isnt able to make contact with the board. Is that piece something that can be replaced or its pretty much useless. If anything I want to be able to use my mic even if it means wiring some of the joints together like what you showed me before when I joined the 5 and 6 connections with a wire.





This post has been edited by NyCShadow: Aug 3 2012, 05:09 AM

[RDC]

OK, that's not great, but not the worst I've seen by a long shot.

The pic with the solder on it I can see 2 shorts that caused all kind of problems, as well as a couple of missing components that are/were most likely the direct cause of the Headset issue.

The pic with all of the solder removed isn't bad looking, aside from the missing pads and components L1 and L4.

Since there is no pic of the board before you laid the iron to her I can't say if repairing these issues will get it up and going again.

You can look at the first pic I posted, or the one that you numbered, as that's the same CL version you're working on there to see the missing components. L1 and L4 are inductors, and you can probably get away with just using a jumper wire in their place here, but that's not always the case. At a minimum you'll need to replace/rewire L4 and install a jumper wire to try and close that switch so the controller will think no headset is plugged in there.

I recommend using 30awg wire for this and a little practice on something else before sticking the iron back on there as it looks like you're leaving the thing on there far too long, it only takes a second or two at most to make a solid joint on these kind of smaller spots with new solder.

This is just a quick diagram of what you can try to get the Heasdet switch working, not the entire headset, just so a Wireless one will work again for now.

Use 30awg wire and strip off the insulation and use it to connect the Blue spots, since that's a short run there's no point in having the insulation or making some kind of loop with a longer piece of wire. Doing it this way will not replace L4, but jumper it as well as restore the connection to that pin in one shot.

For the pink spots, they can just be connected with a short piece of 30awg wire.



Again, these will only restore the switch function that the Headset connector provides, and if this is done properly, and there are no other issues with the controller, then a Wireless headset should start working again with the controller.

[NyCShadow]

Yeah the problem started before I started soldering into the controller, so I'm not sure if I caused the missing components or not? I have to go get some of that wire from Radio Shack, now the reason that it looks like I had left it there for a long period of time is because I kept trying to solder where number "5 6 and 7" were, it wouldnt stick to the joint at all, I used flux on them and even tinned the iron and it still kept coming back up to the iron and not sticking to the joint. Also I heard it is safe to clean the circuit board with iso alochol is this correct? Do I just wipe down that area with a qtip with iso alochol? For the wiring of the blue points, i have to wire that small little piece that you marked, are there 2 points on that part? (see blue and yellow) Or is it just one small piece thats a whole.



This post has been edited by NyCShadow: Aug 3 2012, 03:32 PM

[RDC]

Alcohol is fine to use on the board for cleaning.

The Yellow spot that you've marked is just what's left of the trace/pad that connected L4 to the solder joint. The spots I've marked in Blue just skip over that as it's not needed for this repair.